


i don't like darkness

by avenqelic



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space, Angst, Falling In Love, Fluff and Angst, Lost in space - Freeform, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-09
Updated: 2019-08-16
Packaged: 2020-06-03 16:18:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 11,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19467601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/avenqelic/pseuds/avenqelic
Summary: It couldn’t be real. Everyone had heard of Oikawa Tooru, the legendary prodigy who had gone missing with the rest of the crew from the Seijoh ten years ago. They were out on a four-year mission, with the last transmission halfway through saying they were on their way home.After that, nothing.Oikawa Tooru is lost in space. Iwaizumi Hajime tries to bring him home.





	1. one

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! This is my first work for this fandom and my first chaptered work in general. I have finished writing all the chapters so this will be completed! I hope you like it <3  
> Title is from [I DON'T LIKE DARKNESS](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeCPv6ZPkd4) by Chase Atlantic

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you like the first chapter! It is mostly establishing the situation and characters, and the rest of the story will pick up soon :D

Iwaizumi couldn’t help but fall asleep at his workspace.

He was working on deep space communications arrays, and there had been nothing for two weeks. Coupled with the awful hours, he had a bad habit of falling asleep when he should be working.

Luckily, his supervisor liked him.

Catching his elbow slipping off the desk, Iwaizumi took another sip of his coffee. Of course, it had gone cold. Iwaizumi closed his eyes, lamenting his existence.

_Beep._

Iwaizumi opened his eyes to a blinking message from….

_Impossible._

No one had heard from Oikawa Tooru for ten years.

It couldn’t be real. Everyone had heard of Oikawa Tooru, the legendary prodigy who had gone missing with the rest of the crew from the _Seijoh_ ten years ago. They were out on a four-year mission, with the last transmission halfway through saying they were on their way home. 

After that, nothing.

They had tried, of course. It was before Iwaizumi’s time, but even he knew that they searched the cosmos for the _Seijoh_ for years and years until it was declared missing, and the crew dead.

Lots of people, including the older members of the Shiratorizawa Space Station, still mourned Oikawa. Iwaizumi didn’t take kindly to people mocking that. 

It was a foreign transmission. It would clog the channels. Iwaizumi didn’t have time for this. Anyway, unspecified transmissions shouldn’t be sent to main controls. Iwaizumi should close the channel.

But if it was…

Iwaizumi groaned, accepting the transmission and opening the channel. “Look, I don’t know who you think you are –”

“Hello? Shiratorizawa, come in! Ushiwaka, is that you?”

As the video expanded to full screen, Iwaizumi gasped. It was a little bit blurry, but that was clearly the same man whose photo was on the commemorative wall, but a more beat-up and bloodied version. “…Oikawa Tooru?”

“Yes, it’s Oikawa Tooru! What the hell happened?”

Iwaizumi, hands shaking, pressed the button connecting him to the operator. It couldn’t be. “Ushijima Wakatoshi, please.”

“He’s in a meeting.”

“It’s urgent.”

“I said, he’s in a -”

“Tell him I have Oikawa Tooru on my fucking screen,” Iwaizumi hissed. “I think this is a little more urgent.”

“…give me a minute.”

Iwaizumi turned back to the screen. “What happened to you?”

“What do you mean?” Oikawa frowned.

“Iwaizumi! What is the meaning of this?” someone thundered from down the hall.

“Is that Ushiwaka-chan?” Oikawa gasped.

Did he just say… _Ushiwaka-chan?_

Ushijima burst into the room, stopping dead as soon as he saw the screen. The blood drained from his face. “…Oikawa?”

“Ushiwaka? Why do you look so different? What is going on?”

“It’s been ten years,” Ushijima whispered as the communications room flooded with people. Iwaizumi ignored the blatant disrespect to his workplace and kept his eyes on Oikawa. 

“You’re bleeding,” Iwaizumi said.

“What?”

“Your forehead.”

“Oh.” Oikawa put a trembling hand to his head. “Who are you?”

“Iwaizumi Hajime -”

“Oikawa, please explain.”

“I don’t know. We were going into cryo, and then next thing I knew mine had ejected me and there was a fire in the engine room. I ran to put it out, and I called you guys next. What do you mean, it’s been ten years?”

Ushijima grabbed a chair and swirled to sit next to Iwaizumi. “Your cryo tube must have been opened automatically because of the crisis. I assume something went wrong, because you’re nowhere near us. How are your life support systems?”

“I checked the crew already, they’re okay.”

“Wait, Oikawa, can you transmit your location to us?” Iwaizumi asked, sliding over to a computer. “The _Seijoh_ should be equipped with -”

“Found it!” Oikawa pressed a few buttons. “Transmitting over secure line 148.”

“Shit, that’ll take a few hours to reach us, if we’re lucky. What about life support?”

“What do you mean?”

“The crew was supposed to travel in cryo most of the time, not roaming the ship. Can you go back into cryo?”

“My tube is a little damaged,” Oikawa winced. “It wasn’t in good shape when I got in, and it’s not doing too well.”

“It’s better to have someone awake,” Ushijima said. “I worked on the _Seijoh_. One person should be okay for a while, but you can't wake the crew up. Not enough oxygen.”

“For one person, it says…six months.” Oikawa looked at the screen. 

“Iwaizumi?” Ushijima asked.

“My scanners aren’t picking anything up. It will be a few hours, that’s old technology. I can try and speed it up?”

“Alright. I’m going to tell the General about this.” The older man stood up. “We’re coming to get you, Oikawa. Everyone, out! Let Iwaizumi work.”

As the room cleared out, Iwaizumi slid to the other end of the desk. The communications arrays were delicate things which he had spent the better part of the last two years perfecting. He knew them inside and out, all he had to do was…

“Iwa-chan!”

“What?”

“I didn’t catch your full name there,” Oikawa said, brown hair flopping to one side. He was handsome in a charming way, smiling brightly despite the dire situation. “What are you doing right now?”

“Modifying one of the arrays to pick up on your specific channel. Unfortunately, it’s out of use, so I don’t know the encryptions off the top of my head, so I’m going to put them directly into the communicator. How long have you been transmitting?”

“Fourteen minutes.”

“Alright,” Iwaizumi muttered, tapping on the computer keys furiously, “there we go. This will take an hour to run and initialize, and we should hopefully have your signal three hours from now. Do you know what caused the engine fire?”

“No, but I’m looking at the ship’s maintenance system. My emergency awakening was only done because of the fire, but the engine looks long destroyed. There was probably a failure years ago, and a fire finally started.” Oikawa huffed and took a seat. “There’s enough rations and water for two years, but oxygen is the problem…”

“You should sleep,” Iwaizumi said, “They’ll want to question you soon, and you should get as much rest as possible. The cryo ejection probably really messed with your system.”

_Ring!_

“Give me a minute.” Iwaizumi picked up the phone. ”Yes?”

“Iwaizumi,” General Ukai greeted. 

“Sir!”

“Could you transfer Oikawa Tooru’s audio and video to the secure room?”

“Yes, sir!”

“And as soon as you get a location, send it over as well. Thank you.”

General Ukai hung up, and Iwaizumi turned back to Oikawa.

“I’m transferring you to General Ukai,” he said. “Hopefully, it goes well. Keep your signal on.”

“See you, Iwa-chan.”

“Don’t call me that,” Iwaizumi said, transferring him.

In the quiet room, he put his head in his hands. There had to be a way to focus on one channel in deep space – wait.

That old deep space transmissions tower, the Johzenji Tower. It was built around the same time as the _Seijoh_ , and would be able to pick up its signals without all the other channels in the way. Iwaizumi cancelled his old program and began to reprogram the Johzenji.

Foot tapping, he waited. Come on, come _on_ , it had to work.

There it was.

The _Seijoh_.

Iwaizumi took the location and placed it on a map. It was in an uncharted region of space, and its closest human contact would be…Earth. And with the fastest ship, it would be five months away.

Grinning, Iwaizumi paged it in.

Two hours later, the mission was approved.


	2. two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I'm going to be changing the update day to every Saturday! Hope you enjoy the new chapter :D

Oikawa Tooru was a mystery.

He called often. Iwaizumi didn’t know why he kept picking up.

The other man liked to talk, endless chatter filling the empty workspace. He didn’t mind when Iwaizumi wasn’t paying full attention, but was delighted to receive responses.

“Shouldn’t you be asleep?” Iwaizumi had asked.

“Shouldn’t you?”

His voice was low and soothing, grounding Iwaizumi, reminding him why he was working later hours, why his mind was buzzing with thoughts and codes. The mission was approved. Oikawa Tooru and the crew of the _Seijoh_ were coming home.

If it were up to Iwaizumi, they would leave sooner. It was unlikely that the life support scanners weren’t working, with the calculations Oikawa had sent over, but just in case…

The world had lost Oikawa once.

—

“Sir!” Iwaizumi shouted, jogging over to Ushijima.

“Iwaizumi?”

“I’d like to go on the mission.”

Ushijima blinked in that usual deadpan way of his. It was impossible to read him. “Late notice. I was thinking of taking you, but I did not know if you would want to come. You expressed no desires previously.”

Iwaizumi shrugged, “It was just a thought.”

“You are our best communicator, and I think Terushima wanted to take a break for a little bit. Wait here, I will be five minutes.”

Iwaizumi nodded as Ushijima stepped aside. Oikawa and Ushijima were known to have a somewhat friendly rivalry when they were in their early twenties at Shiratorizawa. Regardless, Ushijima had been one of the few to push relentlessly for searching for Oikawa three years after his disappearance, when Shiratorizawa wanted to put funding elsewhere.

Now, General Ukai had put Ushijima in charge of bringing Oikawa home. Ushijima didn’t have many friends, and Iwaizumi could only imagine how losing Oikawa would hurt.

“You are on,” Ushijima said, startling Iwaizumi. “For your first mission, it will be a long one. You know that we leave tomorrow morning.”

“Sir,” Iwaizumi nodded. “See you here at six.”

Ushijima was a busy man. He nodded and promptly turned to walk away.

Iwaizumi spent all his time here anyway. His apartment was nearby, a mere fifteen-minute bus ride. There was no one at home waiting for him; his parents lived on the other side of the country.

After calling his parents and packing, Iwaizumi took a deep breath. While he had never wanted to go to space, he wanted to know what called Oikawa Tooru to it, what wrapped him up and didn’t let go.

If there was one thing Iwaizumi didn’t like, it was an unsolved mystery. While seemed Oikawa was a mystery that could never be solved, what had happened to him wasn’t.

Iwaizumi laid in bed and tried to pretend it was the mystery of the _Seijoh_ that kept him awake.

—

“Iwaizumi Hajime?”

“Here!”

“Loading Bay 1. You’re on bridge.”

Iwaizumi blinked. Bridge? On his first space mission?

Nonetheless, he trudged to Loading Bay 1. The hangar housing the ship was bustling, people and machines going in every direction, piled high with metal and plastic and scanners. Iwaizumi dodged a tall, red plated robot, turning to see the _Aoba Johsai_.

It was shaped like a rocket, white and shining, with the name _AOBA JOHSAI_ in dark turquoise lettering on the left side. The _Aoba Johsai_ was the largest, fastest ship of its kind – only the best ship could be used to save the _Seijoh_. Iwaizumi saw Ushijima and rushed forward, bag on his shoulder.

“Let me scan that,” someone said, taking the bag. Ushijima nodded, and Iwaizumi relinquished the bag.

After a moment, it was returned, and Iwaizumi was allowed to step onto the landing pad. There were four others along with Ushijima, and he pressed a button.

The pad rose into the air, and Iwaizumi jumped. The others all looked at him.

“First trip?” one of them asked, running his hand through pink hair.

“Yeah.”

“Your communications towers picked up Oikawa’s location, right?”

“Ah, well, it was the Johzenji –”

“Don’t bullshit,” a dark-haired man chuckled, “The Johzenji tower was a piece of shit before you came in. You’re Iwaizumi Hajime, aren’t you?”

Iwaizumi blinked. He knew he had a reputation, but he didn’t know it was this widespread. “That’s me.”

“Nice. Without Terushima, we’re the biggest assholes on the ship,” the pink haired one smirked.

“I’m Matsukawa Issei, and this dumbass is Hanamaki Takahiro,” the dark haired one chuckled. “Oikawa called us Mattsun and Makki back in the day.”

“Why’d you bring that up?” Makki groaned.

“You knew him?”

“Yeah, he was…four years older than us?” Mattsun frowned. “Wait, are we older than him now?”

“I think so. When you’re in cryo it doesn’t count.”

“Your bodily functions are extremely slowed,” Iwaizumi said, and immediately winced. He could only imagine Oikawa Tooru, shaken and exhausted, thrust out of his cryo chamber with blaring alarms and smoke everywhere. Prodigy or not, that would be terrifying.

He was safe, though. They were going to get him.

“Bet the idiot found alien life or something and has it somewhere on the ship,” Makki mused. “How could our Oikawa Tooru disappear without proving the existence of intelligent aliens?”

“He was too stubborn,” Mattsun hummed, smiling softly.

Iwaizumi felt like he was intruding. Everyone here knew Oikawa, but Iwaizumi just happened to be the person manning the communications towers.

It was fine. He requested this. It was fine.

Ushijima stepped off the plate, walking through a shining white hallway. The others followed him, Iwaizumi awkwardly at the back. The inside of the ship gleamed like the outside, spotless hallways wide enough for four people to walk shoulder to shoulder. The ceilings were tall, and the doors slid in and out of sockets in the walls.

The main bridge was…intimidating. There were two seats at the front for navigation, one large chair in the middle (Ushiwaka, presumably), and three at the back in front of more screens and panels than Iwaizumi could count.

Ushijima turned around. “Matsukawa, you’re doing tactical controls on the right. Iwaizumi, your communication station is on the right. Hanamaki, you are on technical controls in the center.”

The two others scrambled to their seats. Iwaizumi peeked at the systems – he had lots of theoretical training on space communications, but he rarely had looked at actual communications devices on actual ships.

He pulled out his own systems from his bag, turning to Makki. “Hey, can I connect this?”

“Terushima did it all the time. You got it scanned, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Hey, Ushijima-san!” Makki called. Iwaizumi hissed in embarrassment.

“Hm?”

“Iwaizumi wants to connect his…thing. It got scanned.”

“Go ahead. Just come to the front when you’re done.”

Iwaizumi pulled out his cords, connecting all his systems and letting them load. He followed the other two to the front, where Ushijima was standing with the two others.

Ushijima cleared his throat. “This is Kageyama, our pilot.” The tall, dark haired man bowed shortly. “And Hinata, our navigator.” The shorter man with the bright orange hair waved, smiling. Iwaizumi couldn’t help but smile back. “We’ve got Kiyoko and Yachi in engineering, Tendou in medical – like normal.”

It wasn’t just a normal mission, as much as they tried to pretend it was.

“Let us proceed. Iwaizumi, call on Oikawa as soon as possible. He would like to know our mission status. We launch in an hour”

“Yes, sir!” Everyone moved to their respective positions. Iwaizumi started setting up his systems, thrilled at the compatibility and ease of systems use.

“Sir! Making the call!”

Iwaizumi pressed a few buttons, putting his earpiece in. “Oikawa? It’s Iwaizumi.”

“Iwa-chan! What’s behind you?”

Oikawa was set up on Iwaizumi’s third screen, set off to the side. Iwaizumi brought in a computer specifically to call on him – not that he would ever tell him. Oikawa seemed the type to never let it go.

“I’m going to transfer you to the bridge.”

“Bridge?”

Iwaizumi pressed a few buttons, turning to see Oikawa’s face pop up on screen. “Ushiwaka-chan!” he exclaimed happily. “Are you starting?”

“Within the hour.”

“Wonderful!” Oikawa hummed.

Something popped up on the screen to Iwaizumi’s left. “Uh, Ushijima-san, engineering wants to talk to you,” he called out.

“Goodbye, Oikawa. When we’re on our way, I will update you.”

Iwaizumi opened the engineering channel and put Oikawa’s feed back to his screen, “What’s your status?”

“Iwa-chan! Won't I block incoming communications?”

“You have your own system,” Iwaizumi said, under his breath.

“What was that?”

“It’s under control,” he said, slightly louder. “I’ve got some work to do. Make too much noise and I will mute you.”

“Mute _me?_ ” Oikawa gasped. “Mean, Iwa-chan!”

Iwaizumi tried to hide a smile as he continued to set up the systems. It wasn’t overly complicated, he realized; just a lot more channels than usual. He was also responsible for communications from within the ship to the bridge, along with his usual external communications work.

Well, at least he wouldn’t be bored.

(And even if he was bored, he was sure Oikawa wouldn’t let him be for long).

“Taking off now,” Ushijima said. Iwaizumi jumped.

“Not paying attention, Iwa-chan?”

“Shut up.”

Ushijima sat down in the captain’s chair. “Kageyama, proceed.”

“Sir!”

Iwaizumi gasped as the ship started to be wheeled out of the hangar.

“Iwa-chan?”

“Yep. It’s fine.”

“Is this your first space flight?”

“Maybe.”

“Oh wow, and it’s on the _Aoba Johsai_? You’re so lucky. How did Ushiwaka even let that slide? You look too tense; it makes you look like a brute -”

“Hey!”

“You’ll be fine,” Oikawa continued, nonplussed. “It’ll be a lot of fun! I miss space travel.”

“You’re in space _right now_.”

“…you got me there. But I’m bored! There’s only poor mean Iwa-chan to talk to.”

Iwaizumi bit the inside of his lip. It was easy to forget that, behind his bubbly exterior, that Oikawa was stranded alone in space. “I’m sure most of the people on this ship would love to talk to you.”

“Yeah, but it’s weird, you know? We know each other, but not really.”

“What do you mean?”

“When I look at them, they’re not the same. I don’t expect them to be, after ten years, but to me it’s been…two days? Three, maybe? They’re different.

“And when they look at me, they see the figure they’ve idolized because that was how they coped. It’s like we’re both looking at reflections of each other. There’s a disconnect.”

“I didn’t think of it like that,” Iwaizumi whispered.

“And now takeoff is done. It’s smooth sailing from here.”

Iwaizumi turned around to see the outside all black, rather than the hangar. “You -”

“You should at least say _thank you_.”

Oikawa was obnoxious, insulting, and distracting. So why couldn’t Iwaizumi hang up?


	3. three

The past few months on the ship were…interesting.

If Iwaizumi thought his hours on the ground were long, that was nothing compared to the shifts in space. There always had to be two people on the bridge (one of whom had to be Ushijima, Mattsun, or Makki (fucking Oikawa had those nicknames drilled in his head)). The ship’s communications systems weren’t bad, but they weren’t great – any time not sleeping or eating was used on improvements.

Ushijima was a hundred times more terrifying as their captain. Iwaizumi always liked him, but he grew to respect him far more. Ushijima was impossibly efficient, always unruffled but caring deeply. He greeted each crew member by name and didn’t forget a face.

Mattsun and Makki were terrifying in a different way – Iwaizumi felt like he was being studied. Luckily, they seemed to take a liking to him, warning him about any trouble they decided to cause.

The pilot and navigator, Kageyama and Hinata, were absolute messes at all times. Any time Iwaizumi saw them, they were yelling at each other. Despite that, it was nice to not be the youngest on the ship (seriously, was Hinata even old enough to be hired?). Fights aside, the two were ridiculously talented, and worked well together.

Iwaizumi had never seen Kiyoko from engineering, but her reports always came in early. He supposed it was a good thing not to have any trouble near their explosive energy core. He had seen Yachi once, and she had promptly turned and ran in the opposite direction. Oikawa had laughed for a solid four minutes when Iwaizumi told him about it.

And Oikawa…

Getting to know Oikawa was something else entirely. He slept less than Iwaizumi, and somehow managed to have a smile on his face for almost everyone (when Iwaizumi looked long enough, some of the smiles were drawn across his face with a crayon, crooked and fake). He talked a lot but most of what he was saying was hidden underneath all that. He was obsessed with the _Aoba Johsai_ to an unhealthy degree, somehow obtaining reading material from Kiyoko and poring over it for hours on end, reading out interesting information to Iwaizumi.

Iwaizumi supposed that Oikawa wasn’t used to nobody looking at him. For a mission going to save Oikawa, most of the crew didn’t talk to him.

“You’re on Oikawa duty,” Makki had joked one day, seeing Oikawa’s permanent residence on Iwaizumi’s monitor.

“I’m a delight to be around!”

“Save me,” Iwaizumi said, deadpan. Oikawa pouted. It was endearing, somehow.

It was probably against some rule somewhere, but Iwaizumi was not about to ask Kageyama for a full rundown of the rules. He had connected his personal tablet screen to the specific Oikawa channel, and on his breaks, he could still talk to Oikawa (of course, Oikawa had the option to be with Iwaizumi or on the bridge).

Iwaizumi didn’t know how to feel about the fact that Oikawa chose him almost every time.

Of course, it was probably because he was most interested in whatever Oikawa was saying. The poor guy was stuck alone otherwise.

Speaking of Oikawa…

“Ushiwaka is single?” Oikawa gasped, sitting up straight.

“I think so,” Iwaizumi grumbled, not liking Oikawa’s interest in the subject. What was the big deal anyway?

“And Tendou Satori is your medical officer.”

Iwaizumi shifted, putting his screen in front of him and lying down in bed. “Yes?”

“And they’re still not together?”

The knot in Iwaizumi’s stomach unraveled. “Not to my knowledge.”

“Ushiwaka was like, in _love_ with him back in the day.”

Iwaizumi coughed, “Ushijima in love is not something I can imagine.”

“It was awful! Tendou would always be dropping hints and he’d take everything so literally!”

Iwaizumi dropped his head and laughed, looking up when he heard a soft gasp.

“Oikawa?”

“You…uh, look like less of a brute when you laugh.”

“Thanks,” Iwaizumi said, dryly.

“I’ve been awake for too long,” Oikawa said, suddenly, “Bye, Iwa-chan!”

The monitor clicked off and Iwaizumi blinked. Truly, a mystery.

—

Oikawa slowly but surely became a permanent fixture in the ship.

Since it was a rescue mission, they didn’t have any official biology officers on the ship, which disgruntled Oikawa to no end (the closest person they had was Tendou, who was far too busy – and anyone who bothered Tendou received the most withering glare possible from Ushijima).

Since no one could answer his questions about biology, Oikawa had resorted to reciting books that Iwaizumi electronically transmitted to him aloud. Once he had finished those, he had gone back to the engineering manuals and medical books. Once those were over – 

“Iwa-chan, what are you doing?”

“Modifying the deep space transmitters. They’re at…70% efficiency, if I’m being generous.”

“Iwa-chan, what does that do?”

“Oh, shit, that’s a message from Earth! Thanks, Oikawa.”

“Iwa-chan, who’s Ushijima talking to?”

“Tendou, probably. I’ve set up a direct communications link between them.”

“…I like how you think.”

Iwaizumi looked up to see Oikawa smiling gently. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. Thanks for talking to me.”

He snorted, “Don’t need to thank me.”

“I know I’m a bit of a pain sometimes -”

“Hey, enough with that. If I didn’t want you here, I’d tell you to fuck off, wouldn’t I?” Iwaizumi turned to look at Oikawa directly in the eye. “I’m talking to you because I want to. Okay?”

Iwaizumi couldn’t be sure, but…was Oikawa’s face red? Yes, it was.

“You’re cute when you blush,” he teased, grinning even wider when Oikawa turned ever redder.

“Shut up, Iwa-chan! You brute!”

Iwaizumi laughed harder. Oikawa was cute, in his own weird way, and Iwaizumi was hopelessly endeared.

That night, he called Oikawa again. The other man flickered into view, beaming. “Can't get enough of me?”

“What, you want to keep talking _at_ Ushijima?” 

“He doesn’t say anything! He’s exactly the same.” Oikawa huffed, turning to the side. “Well, not exactly.”

“Hey. We’re two months away.”

“It’s lonely here,” Oikawa said, looking away. “Despite what you say, I really have to thank you. Who knows what I would have done without you?”

“You would have been fine – don’t look at me like that. You’re so strong. You would have been fine.”

“Why did this happen to us?” Oikawa whispered. “I don’t have anyone really waiting for me – do you?”

“What?”

“Girlfriend?”

“No!”

“…boyfriend?”

“No time,” Iwaizumi shrugged.

“Hm,” Oikawa said. “Me neither. Parents are dead – you know the story. There was no one really there for me, but the other crew members? They have people.”

“You have people too. You have a home,” Iwaizumi replied, gently.

“I don’t. I never thought I did and now I really don’t. Ten years, Iwaizumi. I lost ten years,” Oikawa whispered, looking down. 

Something cracked deep inside Iwaizumi’s chest, between his ribs. “I’ll bring you home.”

“Don’t make promises you can't keep.”

“You think I don’t mean it?” Iwaizumi asked, voice rising.

“No – I just mean…you aren’t invincible.”

“Neither are you. You want to come home? I’ll help you. We’re all here for you. I know how it feels, but you aren’t alone.”

“Everyone has their lives,” Oikawa said, finally looking up. There were flames dancing in his eyes, but Iwaizumi didn’t dare back down. “Even before. They had their families that they were born into or that they made and I didn’t _fit_. You know how I became the youngest captain in history? I was running. I ran all the way into the stars, and now I can't find my way home.”

Something was stuck in Iwaizumi’s throat. He couldn’t breathe, couldn’t look away from Oikawa Tooru and the tears on his face and the catches in his voice. “You fit with me.”

“What?”

Iwaizumi coughed. “You don’t need to be the prodigy, or the captain, or whatever you think you need to be. You just need to be Oikawa Tooru, and you fit in fine with me.”

Oikawa made a choked sound low in his throat. “That’s…very kind.”

“And don’t think I’m saying this out of pity, dumbass!”

“I wasn’t going to!”

“…good.”

“Good!” Oikawa was still very red. Iwaizumi was sure he was no better.

Fuck.

“I’ve got to go,” Iwaizumi stuttered. What the _fuck_.

“See you tomorrow!”

“See you.”

Iwaizumi hung up and pretended the fluttering in the bottom of his stomach was lack of sleep and not…whatever Oikawa was.


	4. four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for going off schedule! I will try to post all chapters on Saturdays from now on!

Iwaizumi jumped out of bed.

The tablet beside his bed was ringing, and he hissed, running a hand through his hair. Picking it up, he squinted at the time. Halfway through his break.

Opening the transmission, he glowered, until he saw who was on the other side.

Oikawa was trembling, red lights flashing in and out behind him. A loud alarm was droning, blaring, washing him out. “Iwa-chan?”

He was awake instantly, “Hey, hey, it’s okay. Let me get to the bridge.” Iwaizumi scooped up the tablet, pressing a few buttons and connecting to the bridge. “Hello?” 

“Iwaizumi?” Ushijima said. “Aren’t you on break?”

“It’s urgent. Something’s wrong on the _Seijoh_ , I’m passing Oikawa through. I’ll be there in two minutes.”

Fingers flying over the screen as he ran, trying not to hit anyone in the twisting pathways of the ship, Iwaizumi connected Oikawa to the bridge as he shouldered through the door. Kageyama and Hinata turned to look at him as he rushed to the captain’s chair.

“Call Kiyoko from engineering,” Ushijima instructed. “Oikawa, what happened?”

Oikawa looked a little calmer now. “I don’t know. I woke up to the alarm. Checking system diagnostics now…”

“Can you connect the ships?” Kageyama asked. “Just so that we can see what’s going on?”

“Yeah, I can do that.” Iwaizumi made the call, requesting Kiyoko urgently. “Oikawa?”

“Iwa-chan, I don’t know what’s happening -”

Iwaizumi closed his eyes. Oikawa’s main focus was not in engineering or technology; he was a biology specialist. “Oikawa, listen to me. Let me help, okay?”

“Okay.”

“There should be a drawer at the back of the bridge, on the extreme left side.”

Oikawa darted away, looking around. “I think I found it.”

“There will be a book in there. Open up the table of contents, go to the communications section. It will be in emergency procedures.”

“Found the page. There are…a lot of numbers here. Which do you need?”

Iwaizumi hissed, standing up. “Where is it…okay, Oikawa, there should be a set of numbers there that I need. There should be three sequences, each of them seven numbers long. The first sequence is your ship’s identification number, if you remember that.” He scanned for the hexagon panel – unfortunately, since the _Aoba Johsai_ was more advanced than the _Seijoh_ , it meant there were a lot more panels.

“Found it,” Oikawa cheered.

There it was! Iwaizumi jumped, pulling the panel down and standing on his chair to reach. “Read it out to me.”

“0012948 is the ship’s identification number.”

“Let me just…” Iwaizumi said, teeth gritted as he typed it in. It had to work. The _Seijoh_ was an old ship, but it had to pick up…

The background turned green.

“Got it!” Iwaizumi dropped to the main screen. “I need the command keys now.”

“1023498 – 795235,” Oikawa said. Iwaizumi punched the numbers in.

“Okay, Oikawa, go to the main communications station. I think the _Seijoh_ should have one screen.”

“It’s blinking purple, two buttons.”

“Alright, press the second button.”

“Done.”

Iwaizumi’s screen was purple now, one box in the middle. “Perfect. What’s your favourite three-digit number?”

“What?” Oikawa looked up.

“I need access. We need to type in the number at the same time, since I assume you don’t have the access key to give me.”

“001.”

“Alright, on three. One, two, three -”

Breath bated; Iwaizumi typed the number into the box.

His system turned green.

“Okay, I have access. What am I looking at?”

“Excuse me.” A beautiful woman with dark hair stepped forward. “Kiyoko from Engineering.”

“Go ahead.” Iwaizumi stepped away, breathing hard and watching their chief engineer work away.

“Good work,” Mattsun said. Iwaizumi jumped; he hadn’t heard him come in. 

“You have any idea what’s happened?”

“It’s the energy transport systems,” Kiyoko said.

“What?”

“How long have the alarms been going on for?” she asked.

“They started a minute before I called Iwa-chan.”

“Something must have hit your ship at that time. It knocked against one of your energy transport systems out of place.”

Ushijima frowned, “On the outside?”

“The _Seijoh_ was built twelve years ago. At that time, there were two places where the conduits had to go externally to reach the thrusters at the back. The one on the left side was knocked out of place.”

Iwaizumi looked at the diagram of the _Seijoh_. The emergency thrusters at the back were separate from the main part of the ship, connected by two parallel cylinders of material. That must be what the conduit went through. One was flashing red.

“What does that mean?”

“From what I can see…” Kiyoko squinted. “The _Seijoh_ is far stronger than whatever hit the connector. It just dented it; but it did internal damage. There’s a misalignment that is fairly easily fixed, but you’ve got to go in manually.”

“You mean he has to leave the ship?” Makki gasped.

Oikawa smiled, grimly. “How do I realign it?”

“It’s one part of the conduit that’s misaligned, about a foot of it. We shut off the current, you go in and replace that one foot, and then we restart. It shouldn’t be anything difficult. Spare conduit pieces should be in engineering; this used to happen a lot. I have access to your engineering here; I’ll find the conduit.”

“Alright, I’ll get suited up. Call engineering when you find the conduit.”

As soon as the channel closed, Mattsun turned to Kiyoko. “Is this dangerous?”

“Not particularly,” Kiyoko said. “He’ll be tethered to the ship. I’m fairly certain we can connect to his display, so we see what he sees. I’ll be able to tell him exactly what to do. Let me find the conduit.”

Iwaizumi took a few deep breaths as Kiyoko and Oikawa discussed. “Wait, Kiyoko-san, could you bring Iwa-chan?”

“What?” Iwaizumi said.

Oikawa shrugged, “You talk to me.”

Iwaizumi didn’t have the patience for this. He pulled over a chair. “Alright, I assume your space obsessed dumbass has done this before.”

“Yeah, but I’m not stupid enough to do it alone.” Oikawa pressed a button to open the airlock. “Well, I _wasn’t._ ”

“Hey,” Iwaizumi barked. “You aren’t alone.”

Oikawa didn’t give any signs of hearing him as he worked.

Oikawa stretched his hands in front of him, getting the cable from the side of the small airlock and attaching it to his suit. He pressed a button, opening the airlock.

He was immediately sucked outside, tether floating behind him. Using the jetpack on his bag, he began maneuvering to the left.

“Am I going the right way?”

“Yes,” Kiyoko said. When Iwaizumi looked at her, she pointed to a green dot and a diagram of the ship on the leftmost screen. “He has a location transmitter on him, and the ship automatically has one. You’re on your way, Oikawa?”

“Yep!”

“Alright, let me shut off the power.” Kiyoko pressed a few buttons.

“Wait a minute,” Oikawa said. “The tether is stuck.”

“What?”

“I can't move.”

Kiyoko gasped, “The airlock door.”

Oikawa turned to see the airlock door, closed over the tether. “What happened?”

“It didn’t automatically latch open. When I cut the power, it closed.”

“Okay, just turn the power back on,” Iwaizumi said.

“She can't,” Oikawa whispered.

“When the conduit broke, the power to the left cylinder stopped. If I turn it back on, it’ll start there too, and the ship…” Kiyoko hissed. “It’ll probably be destroyed.”

“You can't shut it off to the left cylinder?” Ushijima asked. Iwaizumi jumped; he had forgotten that he was there.

“No, the ship’s too old. Besides, I’m fairly sure that if I turn the power on, the airlock door will actually cut the tether when it opens.”

“Alright, I’m untethering.”

“No!” everyone else in the room said.

“Does he have a choice?” Iwaizumi asked.

No one said anything. They all knew the risks of untethering; the jetpacks on their feet weren’t too powerful, and any disturbances could mean being lost.

“There’s no one else there,” Makki said. “Oikawa, be _careful_.”

“I’m always careful,” he said, laughing lightly. Iwaizumi felt his heartbeat rise into his throat.

“Alright, you’re going to be okay,” Iwaizumi reassured him.

“There aren’t any disturbances I can see,” Kiyoko said. “Good luck, Oikawa.”

Oikawa hissed, unclipping himself and letting go. The ground seemed to sway underneath Iwaizumi’s feet.

_He was fine. He was going to be fine._

Oikawa drifted slowly to the panel, conduit in his arms. “I think I’m here.”

“You are. Use the screwdriver to open the bottom two screws on the dented panel…”

Kiyoko talked Oikawa through the process. Iwaizumi tried to pretend his hands weren’t trembling.

“Alright. Good work. Now take the broken conduit back to the ship – do _not_ let it go.”

Oikawa turned his jetpack back on, conduit under his arm. Iwaizumi felt his breathing get lighter as Oikawa reached the tether –

“Wait, Oikawa -”

“What?”

The conduit slipped.

Oikawa dived for the conduit, hands reaching for it. “Where did it go?” He spun, looking for it. Iwaizumi stood up, as if he could look around.

“It’s going towards the engine!” Kiyoko gasped. “Oikawa, go get it! Don’t let it hit anything.”

Oikawa took off, jetpack at maximum as he grabbed the conduit. He wrapped himself around it as he crashed into the side of the ship. Iwaizumi winced, diving for the speaker. “Oikawa? Oikawa!”

“I got it,” he whispered. “Got it…shit! My jetpack!”

“What?” Mattsun hissed.

“The right foot still works,” Oikawa breathed out.

Ushijima stepped forward, “Get inside.”

“I’m trying,” Oikawa said, “This is harder than it looks.”

“Grab the tether,” Makki told him.

“Don’t pull,” Kiyoko warned.

“Iwa-chan?”

“I’m right here, Oikawa.” Iwaizumi sat back down. “You can do it.”

“I can't see the tether.”

Iwaizumi scanned the screen, “Turn to your left…your other left. You see it?”

“Flying there now. Don’t grab it?”

“Hold onto it, lightly, but don’t pull on it,” Iwaizumi said, trying to keep the panic out of his voice. It felt like he was shaking, all over. “Good job. You got it?”

“Yeah.”

“Fly alongside it.”

“Iwa-chan, the other jetpack is failing.”

“You’re almost there, Oikawa.”

“Kiyoko-san, can you turn the power back on?” Makki asked.

“Not without cutting the tether,” she said. “He’s got to pull himself with it, but not too hard.”

“You can do it, Oikawa,” Iwaizumi whispered.

“Iwa-chan –”

“Pull with the tether, Oikawa. You’ve got this,” he said. 

Oikawa’s voice shook. Iwaizumi felt like crying. “Okay.”

Iwaizumi breathed out. Oikawa wasn’t far; twenty more seconds, and he would be there. “Hey. It’s going to be okay, as long as I’m here. You’re safe with me. Just keep going.”

Mattsun gasped, “He’s pulling too hard. The tether is going to break.”

Ten seconds. “You can do it, Oikawa. Stretch out your right arm, you’re so close to the airlock door.”

“I can't let go of the tether.”

“You can.”

Five seconds. The tether made a groaning noise.

“Iwa-chan!”

“Grab the airlock door!”

The tether snapped as Oikawa’s fingers grazed the airlock door. Iwaizumi couldn’t breathe as Oikawa pulled himself closer, closer, until he had a solid grip. He reached up to the bar above the door, conduit cradled in his left arm. Iwaizumi’s vision hazed in and out.

“Open the door,” he whispered.

Kiyoko wordlessly turned the power back on and opened the door. Oikawa collapsed inside, closing the airlock and stumbling into the ship.

“Iwa-chan?” Oikawa whispered as everyone behind Iwaizumi started applauding.

“You did it,” Iwaizumi smiled. The relief didn’t feel real; it felt like one of Oikawa’s cartoon smiles. “Hey. Good job.”

Oikawa tugged off the helmet, placing it front of him. The display showed his sweat soaked hair, and his real, small smile. He was beautiful like this. “Thank you.”

“It was all you.”

“No,” Oikawa murmured. “It wasn’t.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, just wanted to thank everyone who's gotten this far! Not sure if anyone is reading this but if you are, thank you so much and I hope you are enjoying the story <3


	5. five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! Back on schedule to post every Saturday :D thank you for the great response on the previous chapter! I hope you enjoy this one just as much, if not more!

Ever since the conduit incident, Iwaizumi felt like he was running against a clock.

Broken glass was in his throat; every breath cut and scraped and bled, but he had to keep breathing, had to keep going. He would wake up trembling, tangled in sweat-soaked sheets, hands clenched into fists as if Oikawa was next to him, as if he could hold him.

He wanted to call Oikawa, needed to hear his voice to calm the static in his chest, but he always fell short. Oikawa needed to sleep, Oikawa didn’t want to be reminded of it…the list of reasons not to call grew longer and Iwaizumi’s willpower grew shorter.

He had never been so afraid for someone, and so unable to do something about it. Of course, Oikawa would be an exception.

Of course, Oikawa had to be lost in space.

Iwaizumi would bring him home. He made a promise –

_Ring!_

He picked up the tablet. It was Oikawa. Dread, heavy and molten, coursed through him as he remembered the last time Oikawa had called.

“Oikawa?”

“Hey, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa murmured. “No emergencies. Did I wake you?”

“It’s fine.” Iwaizumi wasn’t getting much sleep anyway. “What’s up?”

“Just wanted to hear your voice.”

Iwaizumi couldn’t help but smile. Something was growing, glowing in his chest where his heart used to be, beating _Oikawa, Oikawa_ through his bloodstream. It was a refreshing change from the icy terror that had been consuming him lately. “How’ve you been?”

“Terrified,” Oikawa said, honestly. “It’s what I signed up for, though.”

“No one signed up for this.”

“Yeah, well, you’re coming to get me.” Oikawa smiled, a soft, real one that made Iwaizumi’s stomach flip over. “Hey, do they still have roller coasters?”

“…what.”

Oikawa shrugged, “So much has probably changed.”

“They still have roller coasters.”

“Good. I want to go on one when I get to Earth. Don’t know when they’ll let me back up into space.”

“You want to come back to space?”

“Have you discovered life?” Oikawa asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, no –”

“Then I’m coming back,” he said, determination lacing his vision.

“Oikawa,” Iwaizumi said gently, “you almost – you could have –”

He couldn’t say it, because saying it made it so much more real than it already was. They could have lost Oikawa. He could have lost Oikawa.

“I can't let that stop me. I’m going to be the best, even if I’m ten years too late.”

“You’re…” Insane. Wonderful. Some combination of both. “You’re not too late. There’s all the time in the world for you.”

“And what about you? Liking space so far?” Oikawa huffed.

Iwaizumi took a minute to think. “I…do like it here,” he said, hesitantly. “Like hell I’ll go outside the spaceship, but in here, it’s nice. More complex, you know? Never a dull moment.”

“Would you come with me?” Oikawa asked. “If I left on another mission.”

“That’s a tough question. I do think I need some ground time,” Iwaizumi admitted. “The _Aoba Johsai_ doesn’t feel like home.”

“Spaceships never do, somehow,” Oikawa sighed, dreamily. “Imagine us in space, though.”

“Just the two of us?” Iwaizumi asked, boldly. The rapid blush on Oikawa’s face was worth the cement brick that was just dropped in his stomach.

Oikawa chuckled, “Is that what you’d want?”

Iwaizumi’s entire body felt warm. “And if I said I did?”

“…I’d say it’s inadvisable to have a two-person crew on an exploration mission,” Oikawa teased, “But then again, I’d probably risk it for you.”

 _Who let him say things like that?_ “Well, let’s go on some roller coasters first,” Iwaizumi said, hoping his voice wasn’t shaking like his hands. “Catch you up on everything. You’d be surprised on how everything is the same. Then…maybe I’ll take you to space.”

“You’ll take me?”

“Yeah, I’ll take you.” Iwaizumi bit his lip. “We’ll go find your aliens. How’s that sound?”

“Good.” Oikawa was smiling even wider now, and Iwaizumi was lost – lost in the radiance of his smile and the sound of his voice and the dreams in their heads. They may have lost a lot of time, but they were so young, and the world seemed to stretch in front of them. It was theirs for the taking.

They had something to look forward to now, Iwaizumi realized, both of them. Waiting and waiting had got him lost, but he would wait forever for the chance to be with Oikawa Tooru, if only for a few seconds.

Oikawa Tooru was made of stardust and galaxies, and Iwaizumi was impossibly ordinary. All he could offer was time.

—

“You look better.”

Iwaizumi took another sip of shitty space coffee as he turned to Makki, who was leaning against his workspace. “What do you mean?”

“You were looking rough for a while,” Mattsun said, sliding up on his other side. “Even Ushijima was worried.”

“I think I’m okay now.”

“How’s Oikawa?” Makki asked.

“I mean, as well as can be expected.”

Mattsun coughed, “So, your lover’s spat is over?”

Iwaizumi almost dropped his coffee, “ _What?_ ”

“What?”

“We aren’t…together!” Iwaizumi was sure he was blushing. What the _fuck_.

Makki chuckled, “Come on, we aren’t stupid.”

“We really aren’t!”

Mattsun raised a thick eyebrow. “You’re telling me _Oikawa_ likes you and hasn’t done anything about it? Try again.”

“He doesn’t like me! What?”

“Come on, Oikawa always goes for what he wants.” Makki dropped a heavy hand on his shoulder.

“And I don’t qualify!”

“He spends all his time talking to you,” Mattsun noted.

“We’re friends!”

“He spends most of his time not talking to you by talking to us about you,” Makki said monotonously. “It’s all ‘Iwa-chan’ this and ‘Iwa-chan’ that and ‘Iwa-chan has such nice arms’ –”

“He did _not_ say that.”

“Direct quote,” Mattsun hummed.

Iwaizumi knew better than to trust Mattsun and Makki completely, but that was some interesting information.

That night, he called Oikawa, grinning.

“Iwa-chan! What brings you to me?”

“So, I was talking to Mattsun and Makki…”

Oikawa turned slightly pale, “Whatever they said, they were lying!”

“So, I should put on a sweater, then?” Iwaizumi said, innocently.

“…I didn’t say that.”

—

The next few weeks felt like blissful paradise, which is why it was such a shock.

They were less than two days away, and Iwaizumi was practically humming with excitement. Oikawa was so close! Talking to him in person instead of through a screen…

“Everyone! To the bridge right now!”

Iwaizumi scrambled to the bridge, where everyone was grimly seated. Oikawa was on the main screen. “I don’t know how far out it is.”

“Twenty-six hours,” Mattsun called out.

“What’s going on?” Iwaizumi asked.

“Iwa-chan.”

“Asteroid belt approaching the _Seijoh_ ,” Ushijima said grimly. “Kiyoko-san, can we make it in time?”

“…if we really push the engine, we can make it in twenty-five,” she said, hesitantly, “I need to go now, though. Iwaizumi, do you have a spare headset?”

Iwaizumi tossed her one and she fastened it to her ear.

“Go,” Ushijima said, and Kiyoko tugged Yachi as they sprinted out the door.

“We’ve got enough escape pods for everyone,” Oikawa said. “We’ll launch two hours before the asteroid belt hits – twenty-four hours from now. We should easily be clear, but we won't be too far. Just come get us.”

“Make sure you turn the core completely down,” Kiyoko’s voice crackled through the headset. “Completely off. The meter shouldn’t have any colour in it.”

“Why?” Hinata asked.

“Even though the engine isn’t working, the core is still powered – you still have electricity, right?” Kiyoko explained. “If an asteroid does hit the core with enough power, it doesn’t matter what kind of escape pod you’re in. It will all explode.”

“Should I turn the core off now?”

“No. With the core off, your life support systems won't work. With the _Seijoh_ in the state that it is, you can survive in the ship for less than an hour.”

Oikawa hummed. “Alright, so twenty-four hours from now, I turn off the core, and launch the pods.”

“We’ll be there soon,” Iwaizumi promised. “You’ll be fine.”

“I’m mapping the asteroid path,” Mattsun said. “I’ll send you the pod evacuation coordinates within the hour. Put the cryo pods in the escape pods now so you just have to launch after you shut the core off.”

“Should I launch the pods and then shut off the core afterwards?” Oikawa asked.

“That works too,” Kiyoko said.

“Just be careful with your timing,” Mattsun warned. “Be out of the way of those asteroids, Oikawa.”

“Yachi will send you instructions on how to switch the core off,” Kiyoko said. “Ushijima-san, we can increase the speed now.”

“Do it.” Despite all the stress, Ushijima was still collected. Iwaizumi wondered how he did it – he felt like fraying at the seams.

“Increasing speed.”

Iwaizumi didn’t feel anything, but Kageyama hissed, rushing back to his station. “I’ll take care of it.”

“Communications won't work,” Iwaizumi gasped, stomach dropping to his boots. “It’s already a strain connecting to the _Seijoh_. As the asteroids approach, it will fail.”

“I’ve got to stick to plan, then,” Oikawa huffed. “Don’t worry, Iwa-chan.”

Iwaizumi was incapable of not worrying at this point.

“Shutting off the core should take ten minutes,” Yachi said. “Kiyoko is dealing with the core. It will require a lot of maintenance, so one of us needs to always be on the ship! Anyways, ten minutes to turn off the core, then you get into your escape pod and launch after the others. The pods have seven days of oxygen in there, so don’t worry. We’ll be there far before it comes to that.”

“Heh,” Oikawa chuckled. “Come and get me.”

“We will,” Ushijima said, voice low. “There’s twenty-six total crew members, and it should be two to a pod. With Kiyoko-san and Yachi-san on the ship, the rest of us will go into space and retrieve the pods manually. Twenty-four of us.”

Iwaizumi was one of those twenty-four. Of course.

He really was not qualified for this, but Oikawa needed him. He met Makki’s worried look with a smile that he hoped looked real.

Oikawa was smiling softly. “Time to come home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again for reading! Comments and kudos keep me motivated, and I really hope you're liking the story so far!! <3


	6. six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I'm gonna direct you to the end notes really quickly because there is a slight sensitive topic in here (nothing graphic at all), but I don't want to spoil :D It should be okay for most people but I want everyone to be safe and happy. Love you all lots and thank you so much for your continued support. It means the whole world to me.

The alarms were going off twenty-four hours later.

Iwaizumi pulled his suit closed, heart pounding so loudly he could hear it. Oikawa was okay. He was in one of those pods. He was fine.

Communications had gone down two hours ago. Oikawa had everything he needed for a safe evacuation.

“Alright,” Ushijima said. “Everyone, on me. There should be twelve pods, and there’s twenty-four of us. We go out in one minute-”

The doors swung open. Kiyoko, fully suited darted in, Yachi following close behind. “Sir! Sorry I’m late!” Kiyoko yelled. “The ship is prepared for the asteroid belt. Yachi will stay here, but I’m ready to go. I have experience.”

Ushijima turned back to them. “Iwaizumi doesn’t. You and Yachi-san stay here.”

Iwaizumi sighed as he took off his helmet, both relieved and annoyed. He had never been in space, and an intense rescue mission in the middle of an asteroid belt was not where he wanted to be. On the other side…he wanted to save Oikawa.

Looks like their captain had taken the choice out of his hands.

One by one, the crew jumped out of the airlock. Iwaizumi turned to the small blonde girl in front of him.

“Alright, let’s get this done.”

He pulled up the map of the surrounding area. There were twenty-four green dots, symbolizing the crew members. Iwaizumi slid over to the computer, adding some more commands.

The asteroids began to show up, moving in real time, as well as the cryo pods in red. Iwaizumi turned on his heat and life signature scanners; everyone seemed to be good.

“Can you see the pods on your screens?” Iwaizumi said into the microphone.

“We can see them, and the asteroids too.”

Short range direct communications were working. That was good.

Iwaizumi crossed his arms, looking at the screen. It was fine. The mission was going well. He should look away. It was fine.

“…Yachi-san. How many pods are there?”

“Uh…there should be twelve, but I only count eleven.”

Dread coursed through Iwaizumi like ice water. He ran back to his computer, typing frantically. “One person per pod, right?”

“Can't fit more than one.”

“And if an awake crew member was on that side of the ship, they would be picked up by my life scanners.” Iwaizumi expanded the view.

There.

On the other side of the ship.

The _Aoba Joshai_ was in between the _Seijoh_ and the pods; as they were launched earlier, away from the asteroid belt. Except for one lone, blue dot.

“Oikawa-san,” Yachi gasped. “Let me just –”

Iwaizumi pointed to the life scanner furiously, “He’s unconscious…there’s no time. The crew is too far away. I’ve got to get him _now_.”

“Iwaizumi-san!”

“There’s _no time_ , Yachi-san.” Iwaizumi put his helmet back on, grabbing the computer and connecting his helmet to it. “This line is a direct link to me, press this button to switch channels. There isn’t a tether long enough, so I’ll use my jetpack.”

“You can't –”

“I’m not going to let him die,” Iwaizumi grunted, pushing the computer into Yachi’s hands. “Not after all this. I can't just stay here and let him die.”

He made a promise, and he was going to keep it. Oikawa Tooru would not die, not while Iwaizumi was still breathing.

“…okay. Okay.” Yachi nodded. “I’ll guide you.”

Iwaizumi took a deep breath, going to the airlock on the opposite side.

He jumped out.

If Iwaizumi had time, he would admire the beauty around him; the vast darkness, the shining stars, the asteroids. However, he was fixated on one thing.

“Yachi-san?”

“Keep going forward, and to your left a little.”

_There_.

Oikawa was in a pure white spacesuit, with turquoise accents. His helmet was crushed in, and he wasn’t moving. He _wasn’t moving_. White noise blared in Iwaizumi’s head.

It’s okay. The life scanner said he was alive.

He was so close. He reached forward…forward…his fingers grazed Oikawa’s –

_This is the first time you’ve touched him._

“IWAIZUMI-SAN!”

Iwaizumi turned around right as the asteroid hit him.

The white noise grew into a shout. His left arm was burning, burning; his heart was beating out of his chest. He shorted out like a broken wire, a shattered mirror, horrifyingly empty but for the silent scream into empty space.

Where was Oikawa? Where was he?

Iwaizumi turned, frantically. No, not now, not when he was so close –

Gritting his teeth against the pain, Iwaizumi lunged back down, grabbing Oikawa with his right arm. There was a clip on his spacesuit, and he attached it to Oikawa’s suit.

“Yachi?”

Static.

The asteroids!

Iwaizumi drew Oikawa into him, turning and bracing his back against another one. This one sent them both spinning, Iwaizumi’s vision hazing in and out. They had to get out of here –

His jetpack wasn’t working.

Iwaizumi checked Oikawa’s. Broken as well.

Okay, there was an asteroid coming – he could hopefully get above it if he kicked –

They spun upwards, and the static faded into a shout. It was Yachi. “Can you hear me?”

“I can hear you. Our jetpacks are broken.”

“I can't…short range communications aren’t working -”

Oikawa looked pale. Iwaizumi realized with a sudden, crushing feeling that his oxygen was destroyed.

Pulling out his own, Iwaizumi connected it to Oikawa’s suit. Why were the levels draining so quickly? The asteroid must have damaged his own oxygen.

No. This wasn’t the end.

“I can't come back, Yachi-san. You’ve got to help me out, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Is there an error message?”

“…yes, it’s orange.”

“Alright…” Iwaizumi couldn’t think in a straight line, his mind going up and down and everywhere but the girl in the ship and the man in his arms. “That’s a…shit. You have to restart the system. Go into the computer…”

“Iwaizumi-san? What’s wrong?”

“Low oxygen.”

It was turning grey. Everything was turning grey –

He took the oxygen back with fumbling fingers, took a breath, and gave it back. “Restart button…there should be a manual restart…”

Slowly, slowly, he explained as his chest collapsed, as he saw stars that weren’t there and felt himself drain out, drain blood and air and love. He couldn’t breathe, but like hell he was going to let Oikawa die. Not while he was here.

Was this how he died? In space, failing to save Oikawa Tooru? A tear trickled down his cheek. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be.

It was supposed to be tears from them both as Iwaizumi crashed into Oikawa’s arms. It was supposed to be laughter, collapsing on the floor from the intensity of it. It was supposed to be Oikawa, safe and alive and _home_ , and Iwaizumi holding his hand.

“Iwaizumi-san, hold on!”

Iwaizumi connected the oxygen to Oikawa for a final time. Levels were nearing empty.

There was so much they didn’t have. Oikawa lost ten years and the rest of his life. He didn’t get to learn about the new science projects, didn’t get to go on a roller coaster, didn’t touch another person’s skin. And Iwaizumi…

He had fought, and he had loved. He didn’t get to wake up with Oikawa in his arms, but he got to hold him now. If after all this, he could say that he did everything he could to save him. He gave everything and everything and it still wasn’t enough. He wasn’t enough.

Their still bodies turned in the black abyss. It was the two of them and nothing else, not even a breath.

Oikawa Tooru deserved to be saved.

“I’m sorry,” Iwaizumi whispered, tear filled eyes gazing at Oikawa Tooru’s closed ones, finger stroking the crushed glass of his helmet, as everything turned to black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: Implied/referenced character death, nothing graphic at all.
> 
> Next chapter up Friday. Promise I love you <3 leave a comment or kudos if you liked it, perhaps?


	7. seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! Finally, the conclusion. I just want to say a quick thank you to everyone who's gotten this far - whether you're reading this all at once or have been following since the beginning. Love you lots <3 I hope you enjoy the ending!

He didn’t expect it to be all white when he died.

There was no life flashing before his eyes, no weighted scales, no deity coming for his soul. There was nothing.

Then, everything.

He opened his eyes to grey; fluorescent lights hazing in and out in waved lines, sunlight streaming in from a window somewhere beside him. His head was pulsing, roaring.

“Oikawa!” he gasped.

“He is safe.”

Iwaizumi turned to his left. His entire body protested, but he squinted to see Ushijima sitting on a chair. “What happened.”

“What do you remember?”

“He was…out of oxygen…” Iwaizumi’s head throbbed and blurred. “My head…”

“We managed to reach you and Oikawa not long after you stopped responding to Yachi-san. He is in an oxygen chamber right now, and Tendou expects him to wake up in a day or so.”

“He’s okay?”

“He is.” Ushijima smiled, for the first time. “Thank you. He would be dead if it weren’t for you.”

Iwaizumi didn’t know how to respond to that.

“I will have someone notify you when he wakes up. I am sure he wants to see you.” With that, Ushijima stood up. “Get some rest, Iwaizumi.”

He didn’t want to rest. He wanted to see Oikawa, but only his respect for Ushijima kept him down. “Will do, sir.”

His mind spun in circles. Ushijima wouldn’t lie to him, but he needed to see Oikawa to believe him. Iwaizumi shifted to the right, hissing at the pain lacing white-hot through his body. He did feel like he was hit by an asteroid, twice. The shit he did for Oikawa.

_Oikawa_.

It was a few hours before Tendou came in. Iwaizumi had only seen the spiky haired man in passing, and he brought an eerie aura into the room. “Iwaizumi-kun,” he said, back facing him, “You are an absolute idiot.”

“Uh –”

“You did save Oikawa Tooru, though, so I’ll let it slide this time.” Tendou turned around to stare at him in the eye. “You need at least a month of bed rest, but I assume you’re just like Wakatoshi, so I’ll say three weeks.”

_Wakatoshi?_

“Oikawa will be out in two hours – you’ve been passed out for three days, by the way.” Tendou ran a hand through his hair. “I’ll send him your way.”

Just like he came in, he left, shutting the door behind him. _This_ was the man Ushijima was supposedly in love with? Somehow, weirdly, Iwaizumi liked him.

Waiting was torturous. Iwaizumi was seriously contemplating calling Mattsun and Makki to carry him to wherever Oikawa was (they would do it, for the sheer chaos it would cause), when someone knocked on his closed door.

“…come in,” he said, voice hoarse.

The door opened.

Oikawa was even more beautiful than he had thought, even in an ill-fitting, garishly turquoise gown. His smile stretched across his face, real and shining. He stumbled through the doorframe, and Iwaizumi struggled to get up.

Falling into the chair at his bedside, Oikawa looked at Iwaizumi like he couldn’t get enough, brown eyes tracing every line of his face. “Hi.”

“Hey.” Smiling hurt, but Iwaizumi couldn’t stop his mouth from turning up at the corners. “Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine. Iwa-chan…” Oikawa lifted a trembling hand, resting it next to Iwaizumi’s. “Ushiwaka told me what you did.”

Iwaizumi winced, placing his hand on top of Oikawa’s. He was warm, skin soft and electric where they touched. “I told you I’d bring you home.”

“You could have died –”

“Yeah.” Iwaizumi said, “I could have. I didn’t, though. We’re both okay.”

Oikawa wrapped his hand around Iwaizumi’s, rubbing circles into the back of his hand. Iwaizumi felt the touch in his bones. “I can't believe you’re real. I woke up in the oxygen chamber and thought I dreamed everything.”

“I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere,” Iwaizumi promised.

Oikawa leaned down, pressing his lips to the back of Iwaizumi’s hand. The breath in the back of Iwaizumi’s throat caught, and Oikawa jerked back up. “Was that not –”

“It was good,” Iwaizumi said, in one breath. “I just – I really thought I had lost you out there. You weren’t moving and you weren’t breathing, and I thought that even after everything, I had lost you.”

“It’s like you said,” Oikawa whispered. “We’re safe now. We’re going to be okay.” He pressed another kiss to the back of Iwaizumi’s hand, and Iwaizumi was sure his soul had physically ascended. His heart was beating too fast to be normal, but he didn’t care.

Oikawa’s smile, Oikawa’s eyes, the way Oikawa moved and breathed and _existed_ ; Iwaizumi was instantly drawn to it. He couldn’t imagine not being around him. Oikawa really wasn’t human; he was every star, every planet, everything in the universe compressed into a shining soul – and he was here, with Iwaizumi.

“You’ve got to stop looking at me like that,” Oikawa whispered.

“Can't,” Iwaizumi murmured. “You’re beautiful.”

“Shut up,” Oikawa groaned. “I’ve been in an oxygen chamber for three days.”

“You’re still so fucking beautiful,” Iwaizumi chuckled. Oikawa’s blush was ever prettier in person, and Iwaizumi told him, delighting in how Oikawa squeaked and hid his face in his hands.

“We’re going home,” Oikawa whispered.

“Yeah.” Iwaizumi smiled, “We’re going home.”

—

Oikawa was called for an investigation a few weeks after. Iwaizumi and Ushijima accompanied him, in full uniform. The room was filled with people, ten judges at the front with officers in the wings. Ushijima had managed to get them both spots in the front.

“So, I evacuated the crew members,” Oikawa begun, hands in his lap. There was a panel of people around him, executives from Shiratorizawa. Iwaizumi would have been terrified, but it seemed to be Oikawa’s natural element.

The youngest captain in history, still. A proud smile sneaked onto Iwaizumi’s face.

“I put the crew members cryo tanks into the evacuation pods. The cryo tubes could be unplugged for about a day before they would open and eject the person inside; we had plenty of time. Ejecting a person from cryo and putting them into an escape pod in the same time was probably a bad idea. After I talked to everyone, I think I threw up four times and then slept for fourteen hours.”

The panel chuckled.

“So, waking up the crew was a _no._ I then went to turn off the core. Communications were down, so I couldn’t contact the _Aoba Johsai_. My specialty is not engineering, so I was just following instructions to turn the core down. There was a message on screen saying that the core had to be turned down manually.

“Frankly, I had no idea how to do that. The rest of the crew had been launched into space. So, I followed whatever instructions the screen showed me, along with all the engineering knowledge I had. It took me just under two hours to shut down the core. I was on my way to the escape pods when an asteroid hit the ship.”

Iwaizumi sucked in a breath.

“Our systems were completely wiped out. It went dark, except for the emergency alarms. The pathway to the escape pods was blocked. I reasoned that I could use my jetpack to get out of the asteroid path, since I already had my space suit on. Only one asteroid had hit so far; if I went fast enough, I could clear it.”

Oikawa let out a shuddering breath. Iwaizumi wanted to hold him. “As I left the airlock, another asteroid hit the ship. From there, I don’t really remember anything until waking up in the oxygen chamber.”

“Do you know what happened to initially destroy the engine?” a judge asked.

“No idea.”

The questioning dragged on. Iwaizumi could see the exhaustion in Oikawa’s brow, the frustration in the clench of his fists.

He was resilient. He was brilliant. He didn’t deserve to have these memories dragged out from deep inside and brought to light.

After it ended, Oikawa walked out, back straight. Ushijima glared at Iwaizumi until he jumped up to follow him.

Oikawa was crouched in a dark, abandoned corner. He was breathing hard, shaking like he was going to fall apart.

“Iwa-chan –”

Iwaizumi didn’t say anything. He sat next to Oikawa, let Oikawa lean on him, hold him, let him cry.

—

It took some time.

Iwaizumi would wake up in the middle of the night from nightmares, stumbling out of bed to find Oikawa safe and alive curled up on the couch researching. Oikawa struggled with technology, and the regulations placed on him by Shiratorizawa; looking up at the stars like they were his home.

They managed, though.

Three months in, they finally sat down and talked about everything. Oikawa confessed that he couldn’t just stay on Earth when the whole universe was waiting for him, and Iwaizumi had taken his face in his hands and kissed him.

“Would you let me come with you?”

Oikawa had laughed, “I would be honoured.”

They both had to go for more formal training; wearing them out every day until all they could do when they got home was sleep. Iwaizumi couldn’t complain; he got to hold Oikawa in his arms and kiss him when they woke up. They had built a home together, with each other.

He took Oikawa to amusement parks and roller coasters and museums, where Oikawa had laughed seeing himself. His parents loved Oikawa instantly, demanding they come back at least once a month (which Oikawa lovingly scheduled). They visited old friends, who cried seeing Oikawa for the first time.

Iwaizumi smiled every time he saw the stars now.

“Iwa-chan!” he called brightly.

Iwaizumi turned, eyes locking on Oikawa immediately as he ran up to him. He took Oikawa’s hand, as they pushed the doors to the bridge open together.

Oikawa insisted that they repair and update the _Seijoh_ , despite its ‘bad luck’. “How could it bring bad luck when it brought me you,” Oikawa had whispered shyly one night, and Iwaizumi had kissed him, heart so full he thought he would burst.

Home wasn’t Earth; home was Oikawa.

“Let’s go, Iwa-chan. Let’s explore the stars together.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IT'S OVER!  
> I wrote this project in a very short amount of time in what felt like a trance, and I hope at least one person enjoyed it. Multi-chapter and longer works are so hard for me to write and I really hope you liked it <3 Thank you so much again! Love you <3  
> Maybe leave a comment or kudos if you liked it? My twitter is linked below, come talk to me! :D

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it! Drop a kudos or comment because those keep me going :D Thank you for reading! Talk to me on [twitter!](https://twitter.com/avenqelic)


End file.
